On for Theo Robinson, he plundered a winning goal from close range in a dramatic see-saw finish to a cracking contest with Birmingham City at Pride Park.

Derby twice went ahead with goals from Conor Sammon only for the visitors to equalise through Marlon King and Peter Lovenkrands, before Tyson popped up inside the six-yard box to give the Rams a 3-2 victory.

Tyson's effectiveness as a substitute is clear but he wants more starts and he has provided a strong case to line up against Cardiff City when the leaders visit tomorrow night.

Derby's home record deserves respect. It is the fifth best in the division.

Eighteen of their 26 points have come at Pride Park. They have won five and drawn three of nine matches. Their only defeat was against Burnley, a loss that could easily have been avoided.

When they start quickly and maintain a good tempo, they are a handful for opponents, as we saw in the first half against Birmingham.

A rain-soaked pitch glistened under the floodlights and added zip to the proceedings as Derby got at Birmingham from the off.

From a 4-4-2 base, a formation that suits at home, although not always in away matches, Derby raided down both flanks.

The right-side combination of John Brayford and Paul Coutts clicked into gear and Michael Jacobs replicated the positive approach on the left.

Jacobs had a big hand in Derby's opening goal after 32 minutes.

He cut between Chris Burke and Jonathan Spector and his vicious low drive from 20 yards gathered pace off the wet surface. Jack Butland did very well to turn it on to his near post and the ball looped up to Sammon, who headed in from 10 yards.

Replays showed Sammon was a yard or two offside when Jacobs shot. Was he active or not? To be honest, after Millwall's first goal against the Rams was allowed to stand the other week, Derby deserved the break.

Will Hughes smoothed passes around midfield and his composure in possession and ability to dictate play is wonderful to watch. There is almost an air of disbelief when the 17-year-old misplaces a pass.

His midfield partner, Craig Bryson, was back to his usual self after a low-key couple of games and he wasted a chance to double Derby's lead nine minutes before the break. Smart work by Coutts and Brayford created the opportunity but Bryson lifted his shot over from a good position.

Back came the Rams and Jacobs collected his second yellow card in as many games for simulation, the referee believing the winger went to ground too easily as he drove into the area.

Derby's centre-backs, Jake Buxton and Richard Keogh, reacted well to their difficult afternoon against Crystal Palace.

They kept the tall Nikola Zigic and the in-form King quiet in the first half and goalkeeper Adam Legzdins was barely troubled other than when Wade Elliott's attempt from a tight angle found the side netting.

Birmingham improved in the second half and while Derby appeared to go into their shell, it was probably more down to an increase in urgency from their opponents, whose attacking threat went up a notch or two following the introduction of the lively Robert Hall, who is on loan from West Ham United.

His low shot fizzed narrowly past the far post as the visitors pressed but Robinson should have eased Derby's anxiety just after the hour.

Set free in the box by Bryson's pass, Robinson's rising left-foot shot cleared the bar when the better option might have been to have kept the ball low, given the saturated pitch.

Hughes strode forward and stung the hands of Butland before Birmingham drew level after 73 minutes.

Buxton's attempted interception was the not the best and allowed Hall to run at Keogh in the area. Hall went down under the Rams skipper's challenge and in real time, it looked a penalty. How much contact there was is difficult to say but Keogh got none of the ball and did not help himself by going to ground.

It is the third penalty awarded against Keogh in the last six games and King confidently sent Legzdins the wrong way from the spot. King has scored 11 this season and seven in his last seven games.

He was inches away from another when his shot deflected off Keogh and back off the face of the bar and Derby were rocking.

But Nigel Clough has moulded a determined group of players and they regained the lead 10 minutes from time after a second key decision went their way.

Birmingham should have been awarded a free kick when Hughes pulled back King. The referee failed to spot it and Gareth Roberts arrowed a diagonal ball on to the head of Buxton, who had stayed up following a set-piece. He nodded down into the path of Sammon, who took a touch and dispatched a shot from 12 yards wide of Butland.

The left-foot finish was somewhat scuffed but Sammon did not care and his goals capped a strong-running performance from the centre forward.

His second goal bridged a two-year gap because the last time he scored two in a game was for Kilmarnock against Rangers in November 2010.

The contest lurched from one end to the other and the supporters lapped it up.

Birmingham responded and equalised for a second time after 82 minutes.

Bryson and Jacobs did not do enough to prevent Spector curling in a fine centre and another of the substitutes, Lovenkrands, nipped between Roberts and Buxton to send a lovely deft header wide of Legzdins' right hand.

Derby have conceded seven goals in their last three games and 26 for the season. They need to tighten up a touch with Cardiff City and Leicester City to play this week.

Awful weather conditions added to Saturday's drama and you felt there would be a final twist and turn to the roller coaster ride.

It came two minutes later from a beautifully-constructed Derby move.

Brayford and Coutts linked again and Coutts rolled the ball to Hughes on the edge of the area. The youngster's perfectly-weighted pass meant Jacobs did not have to break stride before he delivered a first-time cross low into the six-yard box, where Tyson turned the ball past Butland for his fifth goal of the season.

Sammon was waiting behind Tyson for a tap-in and a hat-trick.

Asked if he thought about shoving Tyson out of the way, Sammon smiled: "It happens that quickly, you're not looking around to see who else can put it in. A striker's instinct is just to score goals and Nathan put it away and it got us three points."

Only Palace have scored more goals at home than Derby, who have now won three League games in a row at Pride Park. The last time they did that was in January.

The top six could be tantalisingly close should they make it four on the spin tomorrow.

Comments

I couldn't agree with you more DerwentX - an excellent article with good points made - as I prefer the GSE route myself providing that the younger talented players are supplemented by other Academy development and the present first team youngsters such as Hughes/Hendrick are retained and not allowed to move on elsewhere no matter what the money offered. The point I was trying to make was that the club needs to progress and take the youngsters with it to a higher level otherwise they may wish to move in order to achieve their personal goals. If that were the case then the people who do not agree, and don't see the benefits of doing things this way, may well have eventually won the argument in the longer term if Rams were still in mid-table Championship and the youngsters were keeping someone else's bench warm. I have never really seen the benefits, apart from extra cash, of promotion to a league that you cannot win but I guess that you always have to have aspiration otherwise mediocrity and stagnation is the final destination. Everton have suggested for some years now that the very best you can hope for, without astronomic sums of money, in that division is 5th if you are lucky.
I would also like to see Darren Wassell and his team at Moor Farm given a longer term contract as they are proving what they can do given time.

RE derwentx -
That is one of the most intelligent and thought-through comments I've seen on here. We need to build properly, we need to accept that this is not the late 60s/early 70s, and we need to accept that we are not going to win the Champions League every week. We are a decent team, play some good football, have our bad weeks same as everyone else and have been working to be a fiscally responsible business. This is all good for achieving long-term success, and I look forward to the future that will come with the ground work that has been put down.

Quote: 'I take the point that our finances are much better than a lot of clubs but, if we are to see GSE imposing such budgetary limits for long term success, then it is necessary that the project achieves it's long term aims otherwise the detractors have won the argument.'
I don't really share that point of view. We have long term debts of £17.5 million and short term debts of £11.5 million, can you imagine what the debt levels would be now if the owners and Clough hadn't taken drastic action over the last four years to get rid of the high earners and we had given in to the demands to the likes of Commons and Green? It would have been vey easy to sit on our hands and be in the same position as Coventry and Portsmouth, the mere fact that we are in the top half of the Championship, and in no immediate risk of financial meltdown, is in itself, an achievement. If we don't get promotion anytime soon that isn't a sign that tight fiscal restraint has failed.
There is a train of thought that 'you have to speculate to accumulate' That's great, in theory. What happens when the 'speculation' (a euphemism for borrowing) doesn't pay off and the club remains firmly rooted in the Championship with ever increasing interest payments? Its easy, fans want more 'speculation' and the cycle never ends.
Not very long ago we were in a position where the debts were over £50 million and we hardly had a player worth selling. The mere fact that we are playing entertaining football at home, and we have some very good young players, is a bonus. One or two fans would have us think that consolidating a place in the top half of the table is 'settling for mediocrity'. Personally I am happy that we have a decent team to watch and I am in no rush to repeat the last Premier League debacle. Of course our away form could be better, and sometimes the manager has me scratching my head, but, all things considered, I am looking forward to the future.

Totally agree 60 that defensively there are big strides we still can take, although I think some of this is down to us being more open in midfield than last year.
Unfortunately I think for us to have a serious push for the top places this can only be financed with the sale of Hughes for enough money that we could sign 2-3 players and afford their wages over the lengths of their contracts.

Thank you one and all for the financial information which is somewhat reassuring. I believe the price hike last Spring was circa 10% for most season tickets but I am unsure what the entrance price is compared to last term for those unable to afford the season ticket. I take the point that our finances are much better than a lot of clubs but, if we are to see GSE imposing such budgetary limits for long term success, then it is necessary that the project achieves it's long term aims otherwise the detractors have won the argument. A bit like the national austerity plan, which everyone has been having to cope with over the past 4 years, which needs to achieve the necessary deficit reduction in order to justify the impoverishment and economies everyone is being asked to make. Whether that is actually happening is currently open to conjecture and dependent on people's personal point of view and political persuasion.
My feeling is that Rams may be in an on-field position to challenge for promotion in 2/3 years' time providing that we retain the services of the younger element, continue to bring through more Academy talent, and providing that Sean Barker is OK when he returns. Many players are never as good after such a serious injury as they were before which I learnt many years ago with Roy McFarland who was seriously injured playing for England and admits himself that his ability was restricted thereafter. Personally, Derby Stu, I tend to think that we need to achieve more defensive consistency before we make progress up the table from where we currently stand. I take your point that we may be more consistent than in seasons prior to the last but taken in the context of gaining or challenging for the top 6 I am not convinced. Of course everyone has their own opinions on the matter and it is encouraging that we are getting to achieve some rational discussion on these threads. Once again thank you for your input.

From last years accounts:
Our total long term finance is £17,587,000. This has reduced every year from a peak of £24,876,000 in 2007
Last year we lost £7.5 million which the owners covered, that is included in 'short term finance'. According to Glick the owners have no plans for that loan to be repayed. In addition we have a short term revolving loan of about £4 million.
Short term finance is therefore £11.5 million in total.
Its not that bad, in the latest accounts Bolton have long term borrowings of ........wait for it ............. £137,329,594 and short term borrowings of £13,254,382 ! They owe £150 million!
http://tinyurl.com/cvg9fdt

GSE are more transparent than our previous owners & publish accounts. Thus 31 March 2012;
And the club's accounts, published today, reveal that the debt has risen from £19.1m to £25.5m – although the difference is in the form of an interest-free loan from the owners (approx 6.5m). ground mortgage is about £15m. Advance season ticket liability about £4m.
The loss last year was £7.7m -a similar one would see the debts rise to approx £33m.
http://tinyurl.com/bl4kbsu

I think 60yrs we have been pretty consistent throught the season. We've not suffered the big dips of the previous two seasons and Palace/Peterborough aside we've been competitive in every match.
The only real difference to the defence is that last year we had Barker in it for a period, this year we do not have that experience to call on.
You're right about the finances, people are just making numbers up now for "news". We all know we have a secured £15m to the co-op for PP and anything else is an operational issue for the club. Regarding wages they would obviously have looked at the past seasons's average attendences and based the wages calculations on that. Against that however is how much extra they've gained after you factor in the ticket price increases.

Quite agree with you JohnZFish but unfortunately the moaners are currently out in force spreading rumour about the prospective sale of Hughes etc and our finances which are claimed to be in debt to the tune of £25M. Like everyone else I am not privy to the finances and consequently do not know if such a claim has any substance. We could well do without it though as our attendances are dwindling at a time when we are in need of greater numbers as the wage budget is calculated on a larger figure than is currently the average crowd. That is why NC did confirm a couple of weeks ago, with all the conjecture regarding Will Hughes at the time, that we are a small amount over budget and could do with shifting a couple of the non squad players. We currently have 25 nett of loans - not allowing for Sean Barker's absence - and Nigel would like to work with 22/23 to make the playing unit tighter than is currently the case.
As we showed on Saturday evening when our strikers have a lean time (Theo for once) it puts tremendous pressure on the back line who are not as strong as last season when the defensive record got us into 12th place. If we are to attain a repeat of that finish we require the strikers to be firing on all cylinders, with Jamie Ward not yet ready for first team action, and taking some points against the likes of Cardiff and Foxes. My feeling is that, if we can gain some consistency in terms of not conceding so easily, we can get into the top 10 by May but at present that looks a big ask unfortunately.